Snakes and mice may not look a lot alike, however a lot of what we learn about pores and skin coloration and patterning in vertebrates, together with snakes, relies on analysis involving lab mice. There are limits, nonetheless, to what mice can inform us about different vertebrates as a result of they don’t share all the identical kinds of color-producing cells, often called chromatophores. For instance, snakes have a kind of chromatophore known as iridophores that may generate iridescent colours by reflecting gentle.
To acquire a greater understanding of the genetic foundation of coloration in vertebrates, a global analysis group together with UGA Professor Doug Menke mixed a spread of strategies—complete gene sequencing, gene-editing and electron microscopy—to look at colour variations and patterning in pores and skin shed by ball pythons bred in captivity.
They had been capable of establish a specific gene (tfec) that performs an important position in reptile pigmentation typically and extra particularly in a basic colour variant, the piebald, discovered throughout vertebrates. This specific coloration is distinguishable by blotches of white.
“Despite many decades of research on the genetics of pigmentation patterning in animals, very little of this work has been performed in reptiles,” Menke stated. “Therefore, it’s exciting to finally identify a gene that plays a central role in reptile coloration.”
